A friend of mine lived in a house with his wife and small kids He used to work nights. One night he came home to find his missus sobbing in the kitchen and bleaching all the work surfaces like a mad woman. (This was before mobile phones).

This is what happened to her.

She was woken in the night by the bathroom tap running full blast. She gets up and goes to the bathroom. Switches on the light and nothing. No tap running. There was a landing with a window, and as she passed it in the dark, she saw a bright light reflect on the glass, and thinking it was her husband coming home (he was a taxi driver) she went to the window to look out. But there was nothing there, no car, no headlights.

Then she realises that the light isn't coming from outside, it's coming from behind her in the dark, inside the house....through the open doorway of the spare bedroom. She turns to look, and all she can see is the last few feet of the empty spare bed, and on that bed are two legs. A man's legs, with trousers and shoes on. The light fills the stairwell and she looks up and sees that the loft hatch is gaping open like a black maw. Beside herself with fear, she runs downstairs but can't leave the house because of the kids, yet dare not go upstairs again. She also knows that this 'man' is not alive. She knows this because she's seen him standing at the window inside the house several times as she's pinning out the washing. Only he never has a face...just a blank pink oval.

The next day, my friend made enquiries to the neighbours. Who lived in the house before them? Turns out it's some guy who's wife died of cancer and he hanged himself from a beam in the loft.

Needless to say, this was the final straw for her, and they moved shortly afterwards.